New Zealand All Blacks could MUTINY ahead of England Test series May 21, 2024 Rugby in New Zealand is on the verge of mutiny just a month before their two-Test series against England. Leading past and current All Blacks players including Richie McCaw, Sam Whitelock and Sam Cane are signatories on an ultimatum letter from the New Zealand Rugby Players Association to the directors of the NZ Maori Rugby [...]
Premiership gets shot in arm as league attendances grow for most May 21, 2024 Premiership Rugby has received a welcome shot in the arm after the average match attendance across the league grew by almost 300. Excluding one-off matches at the likes of Twickenham and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the average attendance for regular home games – according to crowd data published by Premiership Rugby – rose from 12,569 in [...]
‘Premiership run-in is great. It is a shame about Gloucester and Newcastle’ May 17, 2024 It’s incredible – there are only 80 minutes left of the regular Premiership season and barely anything is decided. We know Northampton Saints are guaranteed a home semi-final, but they’re not yet confirmed as regular season champions. Saracens are definitely in the play-offs but aren’t sure of whether they’ll be home or away in the [...]
Ollie Phillips: Premiership top four play-off predictions May 10, 2024 The next two weeks of Premiership action will decide who makes the end of season play-offs. Eight of the 10 teams can still make the top four, and most of those can still earn a home semi-final. As it stands, Northampton Saints are four clear of Saracens at the top of the table. Bath are [...]
English teams in Champions Cup showed Premiership still has aura May 6, 2024 For the fourth consecutive Investec Champions Cup final there will be no Premiership side, and for the fourth consecutive final there will instead be representatives from both the multi-national United Rugby Championship and the French Top 14. But is that reason to be gloomy about the English top flight? Not at all. Because in the [...]
Champions Cup: Leinster vs Toulouse is the final we deserve, and want May 6, 2024 So there we have it; seven weekends of Investec Champions Cup action has delivered the final many wanted, and expected. When the final concludes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 25 May, it’ll either see French giants Toulouse extend their record of European trophies from five to six, or see Irish stalwarts Leinster move level [...]
English teams Harlequins and Northampton Saints underdogs in Champions Cup May 3, 2024 Like most people, I will look at this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup fixtures and go on to predict a final between four-time champions Leinster and five-time winners Toulouse. The two clubs are European powerhouses and it would take some upset by either Harlequins across the English Channel or Northampton Saints across the Irish Sea to [...]
Meet Daniel Loitz, the man trying to resurrect London Irish rugby legacy April 30, 2024 When London Irish went bust in 2023 many thought that was the end of one of Premiership Rugby’s famous clubs. But businessman Daniel Loitz wants to buy the club. What does the Bernadotte Dynasty of the Swedish royal family, a Kazakh steel works company, an Uzbek railway project, the Berlin Wall and the fall of [...]
RFU and Premiership Rugby close in on £264m funding deal April 29, 2024 The Rugby Football Union, RFU, and Premiership Rugby have finally agreed a new Premiership Game Partnership, worth £264m, which will shape the English game for the next eight years. It is understood that legal details are all that remain between now and the new deal being signed, with the Telegraph suggesting the central policy will [...]
Judo star Skelley channelling rugby’s Wilkinson for Paris 2024 success April 29, 2024 A Paralympic champion whose rugby career was curtailed by sight loss is channelling Jonny Wilkinson on his journey to Paris 2024. Chris Skelley, a visually impaired judo player, dreams of emulating the England rugby legend in his bid to climb further into the sporting history books. Skelley was thrown into rugby and judo by his [...]